Number 20 – January 2010

Geoscience Newsletter
1
GEOSCIENCE NEWSLETTER
Number 19
October 2009
BOOK REVIEW
ANNOUNCEMENT
Meyer SC. 2009. Signature in the cell.
NY: Harper-Collins. viii + 611 pages.
$28.99.
CREATION SABBATH
The Seventh-day Adventist
Church has designated October 24 as
a special Creation Sabbath. Churches
who wish to hold a special service
that day can find resources on the
web at www.creationsabbath.net.
One such service, sponsored by the
Faith and Science Council, will be
held in Loma Linda, California. More
information is available at http://
fscsda.org.
SECOND CONFERENCE ON
TEACHING ORIGINS
The second Conference on Teaching
Origins was held August 7-10, 2009, in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Attendees
included approximately 50 college and
university professors and graduate
students, representing at least six
countries and several academic disciplines.
A highlight of the meetings was a
series of presentations by authors of a
book being prepared for contemporary
issues in biology. The book is expected
to be available in 2011. Other topics included science and religion, death and
sin, and the role of intelligent design in
Attendees hear a presentation at the meetings
in Colorado Springs. Photo courtesy of Rick
Seidel.
The protective cover is moved to reveal the
famous Ordovician fossil site in the Harding
Formation at the Indian Springs Campground.
Photo courtesy of Rick Seidel.
science. Reports of research on fossils
were also presented.
The final day of the conference was
given for a field trip to the area around
Cañon City, Colorado. The group visited
a famous Ordovician fossil site, the
Marsh-Felch quarry of the Marsh-Cope
dinosaur-wars fame, Skyline Drive fossil
site, and the Florissant Fossil Beds
National Monument.
GEOSCIENCE WEBSITE
The News section of our website
posts links to recent news in science and
other fields relating to science and
Christianity. Here is a sample of items
you can access from our News section,
-Velociraptor’s “killing” claws were
for climbing.
-Spare gene is fodder for fishes’
evolution.
The above topics are included in the
September 13 posting. They and others
can be accessed at (http://grisda.org/site/
1/news/news.htm).
Geoscience Newsletter is an e-publication of the
Geoscience Research Institute, 11060 Campus
Street, Loma Linda CA 92350 USA.
To subscribe, please contact us at [email protected].
Stephen Meyer is a leading proponent of intelligent design and Director
of the Discovery Institute in Seattle,
Washington. His PhD for Cambridge
University was an analysis of the history
of biological theories on the origin of
life, and this book is based on that same
topic. The book contains 20 chapters plus
some supplemental material at the end.
The book is an excellent read and is
highly recommended for those with a
good basic understanding of molecular
biology and an interest in philosophical
issues surrounding the origin of life.
Meyer’s principal argument is that
intelligent design is the best explanation
available for the origin of life. He argues
his case very effectively through the use
of careful analysis, penetrating logic and
explanatory stories and illustrations. He
carefully reviews alternative hypotheses
based on chance alone, natural law, and
a combination of the two, and shows that
these proposed explanations fail, not
only because of a lack of evidence, but
because of the very nature of the universe. After revealing the inadequacy of
materialistic theories for the origin of
life, Meyer deals with the criticisms of
intelligent design, showing they are
based either on misunderstanding or misrepresentation or both. Meyer’s analysis
of the nature of historical science, his
analyses of chance and necessity as
explanations for the origin of life, and
his defense of the scientific status of
intelligent design combine to make this
book a must read for anyone interested
in the origin of life or the history and
philosophy of science.
2
Geoscience Newsletter
SCIENCE NEWS
Non-biogenic Petroleum?
How heavy was the biggest
dinosaur?
Kolesnikov A, Kutcherov VG, Goncharov AE. 2009. Methane-derived
hydrocarbons produced by upper-mantle
conditions. Nature Geoscience 2(8):566570. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo591
Packard GC, Boardman TJ, Birchard GF. 2009. Allometric equations for
predicting body mass of dinosaurs.
Journal of Zoology 279:102-110.
Summary. Recent research suggests
dinosaurs may not have been as heavy
as previously thought. Two statistical
methods for estimating body mass were
compared. One method uses a log transformation for analysis and the result is
then transformed back to arithmetical
measure. This method usually produced
overestimates when applied to mammals
with known body mass. The other
method uses non-linear regression, and
produced notably more accurate estimates of body mass when applied to the
Skeleton of Apatosaurus, a sauropod dinosaur.
Specimen at College of Eastern Utah museum,
Price, Utah.
same mammalian data set. The more
accurate method was applied to dinosaurs, with the result that estimates of
dinosaur body mass were considerably
lower than previous estimates. The
discrepancy was proportionally greater
in larger than in smaller dinosaurs. The
largest dinosaur in the study, Apatosaurus, was estimated to have a body
mass of 18,000 kg, which is roughly half
the previous estimates of 38,000 and
35,000 kg.
Comment. Even at 18,000 kg,
Apatosaurus would be more than twice
the 7,500 kg weight of an African elephant. Of course, one should keep in
mind that it is not possible to confirm
the calculated weight of dinosaurs, since
there are none around to weigh!
A dachshund, carrier of a gene for short legs.
Photo courtesy of: www.wikipedia.org.
Few Genes, Much Variation
Cadieu E, Neff M, Quignon P, et al. 2009.
Coat variation in the domestic dog is
governed by variants in three genes.
Science (online August 27, 2009) DOI:
10.1126/science.1177808.
Summary. One thousand dogs from
80 breeds were studied to determine the
genes associated with differences in coat
color. Three genes were identified that
account for the majority of coat color
patterns. This shows that a large degree
of variation can be produced by only a
few genes.
Parker, GH, VonHoldt BM, Quignon P,
et al. 2009. An expressed Fgf4 retrogene
is associated with breed-defining chondrodysplasia in domestic dogs. Science
325:995-998.
Summary. Petroleum is known to be
produced from biological materials, but
whether it can be produced inorganically,
such as from methane, is unknown.
Scientists subjected methane to extreme
pressure and temperature in a laserheated diamond anvil cell. Short-chain
saturated hydrocarbons (ethane, propane,
butane) were produced at pressures
above 2 GPa and temperatures from
1000-1500 K. Above 1500 K, the
methane tends to decompose into elemental carbon and hydrogen. The conditions needed for production of hydrocarbons in this experiment are reproduced at depths of 70-150 km in the
earth’s mantle. Similar conditions are
known to support generation of methane
by chemical reaction of water, iron oxide
and carbonate. This combination of conditions could provide an environment in
which inorganic petroleum could be
formed. This discovery could aid in
locating new sources of oil.
Summary. A study of 835 dogs from
76 breeds revealed that certain shortlegged breeds, such as basset hound,
dachshund, Pekinese and corgi, share a
gene not found in the other breeds. The
extra gene is a retrogene, formed by
duplication of an existing gene by retrotransposition. Dogs with the extra gene
copy have shorter than normal legs.
Comment. Both studies strengthen
the hypothesis that different combinations of a relatively small number of
genes may produce a large amount of
variation. A 2007 study (Science 316:
112-125) showed that a single gene may
account for most variation in size of
dogs. Perhaps the genome is designed to
produce variation by having a small
number of genetic “hotspots” that produce many different combinations of
genetic factors.
A pumpjack or oil well in Texas. Photo courtesy
of www.enermaxinc.com.
Comment. Oil has been assumed to
be produced from decomposition of
buried organic material, and the large
amount of biomass required has been
proposed as a problem for creation
theory. The discovery that oil might be
produced inorganically could provide a
partial resolution of this question.